Visit the Shaks

I was completely shocked when my husband gave me my Christmas present. He bought me a laptop! I have wanted one for a very long time and couldn't have been more thrilled.

I think I am most excited about using it around my own home. Now I can sit outside and work while I keep an eye out on the kids playing. I can also sit in the family room and be near my family while I am doing a quick task or two. This way, I won't be confined to just one room.

Another thing I am looking forward to is leaving town and not getting unbearable computer withdrawl like I usually do! I will still try to take a vacation while on vacation, but at least I won't totally lose touch with cyberspace.

I had to take an abrupt break from work due to  two of my sons coming down with pneumonia. Even the laptop could not have helped with that. Sometimes you just have to put work on the backburner and take care of the most important things in your life such as your family. However, I am happy that my shiny new Christmas present can make work easier for me in many ways.

Happy New Year from WorkShak!

Wishing you a prosperous and happy New Year, and hoping that your home business efforts bear great fruits. Set those goals and get ready to start 2008 out right with your home business!

When you are using a blog to promote your home business, it can be easy to decide to let posting fall to the wayside. However, this can be a big mistake. One of the biggest reasons that a work from home blog can be a good traffic driver is the fact that regular posting keeps your Web site fresh; this is one of the things that pleases the search engines.

Remember to post at least three to five times a week. It doesn't have to be a long post every time, but it should be relevant, entertaining or have some other value. And, if you know you are going to be gone, you can always post to the future.

As a freelance writer, I rely almost completely on the Internet to keep my home business running. It's the whole reason I can even work from home. I get jobs online, write on the computer and send the completed projects over the Internet. This is an advantage when I travel. I can keep up with work from anywhere. On the other hand, though, if my computer crashes or my Internet goes out, I have serious problems.

Home Biz Notes points out that some businesses can still go on when access to a computer goes out. But for the rest of us, Mary Emma Allen offers such suggestions as making sure that you have a back up computer, or that you can go to a library to access the Internet in a pinch. These are great ideas. Do you have any contingency plans for your home business?

Sometimes it can be difficult to make working from home, er, work. Distractions, the desire to just get one more thing done and more can be wearing on the person who runs a home business. I liked this advice from CNN Money about what you can do to help your home business be more manageable:

1. Let others know that what you are doing is work.
2. Establish boundaries and regular work from home hours.
3. Create a specific place for your home business activities.
4. When you finish the day's work, or your specified hours are complete, finish up for the day.

This week (between Christmas and New Year), I am taking it easy. However, as a professional blogger, things can get dicey. After all, blogging is important when you are a blogger. And your home business blog also needs updating. Disappearing completely for a week can be a bad idea.

That's why I love the ability to post to the future that some blogging platforms offer. This means that you can write a post, but specify the date and time you want it to post. Last week I wrote a couple extra posts for each blog, and then decided which days I wanted them to show up. My blogs remain active the whole time, and I get a bit of a vacation.

I wanted to wish a personal "Merry Christmas" to WorkShak readers. I offer my best wishes for this holiday season, and for your work from home success in the coming year.

Merry Christmas from WorkShak!

Everyone makes New Year's Resolutions. And that's great. Goals should be encouraged, especially when you work from home. And Pimp Your Work is having a great contest. You can create a blog post about your home business New Year's resolutions and possibly win a great prize.

Here are my work from home New Year's resolutions:

1. Make more time for my family when we are together (limit my work from home activities).
2. Increase efficiency by relegating email to certain times of the day.
3. Write a book about writing.

What are your home business New Year's resolutions?

We here at Shakadoo would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support and friendships. Each and every one of you have brought us to where we are, and inspire us daily. Thank you for all of your suggestions, comments and loyalty. It has been a pleasure getting to know so many of you, and we look forward to the opportunity to make even more friendships through out 2008.

We wish you a joyous and safe Holiday and of course a prosperous New Year!

Kathy, Kathylynn, and Bill

When you work from home, you find that you have additional gift giving opportunities. You can also turn your home business talents into gifts for others. Mary Emma Allen at Home Biz Notes points this out about one of her home business ventures:

I also teach and write about scrapbooking and compiling one’s family history.  (With these classes, I provide supplies from my business as part of the fee.)

Family members seem to appreciate booklets I compile of family history with family photos. ...

In the past, I have given "gift certificates" for editing or writing services. These have seemed well-received, especially for friends that are working on reports and projects at work or school. Gift certificates for the products and services you offer -- or even gifts of the products you offer -- are great presents.

But you can also sell gift certificates to your customers. Even though many  people are holding off on e-commerce buying this year (the economy, you know), gift certificates can be great gifts. And if you operate your home business online, you can send emailed certificates, cutting down on shipping and increasing convenience.

Even if you love to write, it is possible to get writer's block every now and then. Sometimes is lasts only a short time and you can get back to writing. Other times is can present a real problem if it hangs around longer than usual.

Bloggingmix.com understands this dilemma and some "Tips For Bloggers On Writer’s Block". This is my favorite tip from that article:

"No Idea For a Topic - In some cases, even when you are confident of yourself, you have good writing skills and you’re in good shape, you still experience writer’s block. To put it simple, you just don’t have an idea for a topic. Well, this shouldn’t be the case if you know that writing quality posts requires alot of reading. In order to be able to write something, you should read. The more you read, the better your ideas."

This is exactly what happened to me this morning. I was at a loss for a topic and started browsing other blogs and ironically stumbled upon this one. His tip about reading to get over writer's block is excellent. It is something I do when I encounter a block and it always helps.

One of life’s lessons is to learn from others. And that includes learning from others’ mistakes. No matter the size of your home business, you can learn from the Dumbest Moments in Business 2007 from CNN Money.

The list includes Merrill Lynch for its subprime mortgage backed securities, China for obvious reasons and many more.

If you search the Internet for information about working online, you will see many discussions regarding finding the right niche to get into.

When I first started out, I tried a few affiliate programs that concentrated on selling the work from home concept. That didn't work out for me for a couple of reasons. First of all, I didn't like the bogus lies these programs were feeding everybody. Next, there were a million other people out there trying to sell the same concept.

How do you find the right niche for yourself that is something you will enjoy and be profitable in? Homebizblogger.com might be able to help you with that through their article "Know Yourself to Find the Right Niche for Your Online Business - Forget the Net!". Here is a story of an unusual niche that turned out to be quite profitable.

"I was in Central America at a friend’s place who was renting a large luxurious villa on golf course near the ocean. I was amazed at how beautiful the home was; 5 bedroom, massive pool, even larger patio with full bar… At one point I asked my friend who owned this place and what they did. Turns out the gent who owned the place made scented toilet paper. Yes that’s right scented toilet paper. When is the last time you heard someone mention scented toilet paper with riches?"

Finding a market where there is little competition usually results in success. The hard part is identifying that market.

Next week is vacation. And while I plan to ease up a bit on the work from home stuff, I will have to increase the amount of time I spend with my son and husband. This isn't a bad thing, but it means I have to come up with ways to amuse them. One great idea is to head over to www.jacksonpollock.org.

Don't worry if browser window is blank. Wave your mouse in the blank area and see what happens. Click the mouse to change things as well. Hit the space bar to start over. Loads of fun. I was literally mesmerized for more than half an hour...

This little kitty has the right idea! I have decided to give myself a bit of a break during the week between Christmas and New Years. Isn't that the beauty of being your own boss?

This does not mean that I won't work because I have projects that always need attention. I am just going to cut my work day by half. I will do all of the essential tasks and leave the rest behind.

My son will be off from school which means not only will he be around the house, but several of his friends will be hanging out too. My husband has that whole week off as well. If I tried to do my full work schedule it would be like trying to swim against the current. This Pisces is going to swim with the current this time!

How about you? Do you plan to take any time off next week?

You don't have to have your own home business to work from home. This report points out that many call centers are turning to home workers in a trend called homesourcing:

I wrote this article and thought it could be helpful to share here. These ad writing tips are geared more towards beginners. Yet, you might be surprised at how many businesses I see writing ads with no substance. If you are going to advertise your business, be sure to take the time to make your ad as effective as possible. From the Flugpo Blog "How To Write Successful Ads":

"The way in which you write your ad can determine its success or failure. Taking a little extra time to word your ad properly is usually time well spent. Even if you are placing a free classified ad, these tips can help you make that sale.

It is tempting to write a very brief ad with just the basics. How much is there to say about the old baseball bat that you are selling? The answer is, a lot more than you think.

If you are placing an ad that is going to be on the Internet, the main thing you should consider is "keywords". Keywords consists of words or phrases and are the essence of search queries. Adding the proper keywords to your ad will make your ad show up in more search results.

Keywords and an appealing description of your product or service will make your ad more attractive. Let's think about that baseball bat again. Did you win a championship with it? Was it your lucky bat? Tell people why this bat is special. Add as many details as you can. How long is the bat? What brand is it?

Think about how you search the Internet. Many people use search phrases now rather than just a single word. Could your item be found in the form of a question? Try to put wording into your ad that you think searchers might use for their query.

What are the terms of your sale? If you listed your item in Texas, are you willing to ship to Alaska? If you put your shipping terms as part of your ad body, this is another way to draw more searchers. It is also important to put the terms of payment in your ad. Be clear as to what forms of payment you will accept and also a time frame for payment. If you accept multiple forms of payment, be sure to include that information as well.

Pictures go a long way towards ad appeal. If you have a picture for your product or service, posting it in your ad can make all the difference. Visual appeal plays a big role in purchase making decisions.

Now that you have your descriptive ad written, it is time to give it a little extra push."

That is the main gist of the article but if you would like to read the rest, you can do so by clicking here

I couple of months ago, I wrote about how my work from home job is, in fact, an actual job. Kelly's post today on having a home business and marital stress brought it back to me. I can relate. When I first started working from home, my husband didn't realize that how much money was beginning to make. I thought of the whole freelance writing thing as a "hobby."

Now he knows better. But he still has the same problems Kelly's husband has: When he has a day off, he expects me to be able to drop everything. He also gives me a hard time about how much time I spend on the computer. "You spend a lot of time on the computer," he says. (I spend 4-5 hours a day working on the computer.) "That's like those people who are addicted to it."

He seems to have trouble wrapping his head around the fact that I work when I'm on the computer. I'm not surfing around looking at stuff for fun. And when he asks me to buy something online, and I put it off til later, he freaks out. "What have you been doing on the computer all this time, if you're only just getting around to ordering (fill in the blank)!"

Um, working.

It's a completely different outlook on work, and one that requires one to step back and rethink the traditional concept of work. Because a work from home job is a job. And it has its own set of challenge that are completely different from going to the office.

I usually don't get too personal but today I am going that route. Sometimes it helps to find out if anyone else is going through the same thing.

After the birth of my last son, I stopped working altogether. It was a huge financial adjustment for my family. After about a year, I started getting a lot of pressure from my husband to go back to work. I hated the thought of not being home with my children so I found a way to make money by working from home.

The truth is, my husband never believed that I would be able to make money working from home. He said he would believe it when he saw it. Well, he was proved wrong and now he is happy that I can contribute financially to the family income and still be home with the kids.

Did I say he was happy? He is happy when I am not on the computer! He seems to think that I can magically make money from home without ever actually having to spend time on the computer. He does not understand that when you work from home, the hours are not necessarily Monday through Friday from 9 to 5.

One day he had the day off and spent it at home. I had a lot I had to do for work so I went through my usual work day. He ended up mad and resentful that I did not spend time with him instead (which meant sitting and watching tv all day). I explained that just because he had the day off did not mean that I could ignore my work.

There is something else that he does not understand. He does not realize that when I work I have to stop every other minute to do something for one of my children. I have two small kids at home and I cannot work straight through from 9 to 5 as if I was at an office. Although I try to explain this to him, he seems to think it should be a breeze. Once my kiddos are all in school, my work should go much more quickly and be accomplished in that time frame. However, that is four years away!

Basically, I feel like I am damned if I do and damned if I don't. It has been more difficult lately due to the holiday season. I do my shopping online and that has added to my time on the computer. Tis the season to be jolly..... yeah right!

Is this just our problem, or do any of you have the same issues with your spouse about working from home?

All sorts of business advice is bandied about on a regular basis, and it can be difficult to decide what will work best for your home business. However, no matter what you are doing in your work from home job – and even if you work for “the man” – there are six things you can do to help you flourish. Leadership Turn offers these six actions that will help you find home business success:

    * Spend less than you make

    * Under promise and over deliver

    * Never be afraid to ask

    * Hire people smarter than you, listen to them and then make your own decision

    * Treat your customers the way you want to be treated

    * Plan tactically and strategically

Sometimes your personal life can get in the way of your work production. If something is really bothering you, it can be difficult to keep your mind focused on getting your work done.

Deb at Freelancewritinggigs has some ideas on How to Keep a Bad Day from Becoming a Distraction:

"Write About It. You don’t have to publish your feelings for the world to see, but writing about your anger or unhappiness might be just the ticket for pushing all the bad or unsettled feelings out of your mind. Many times, I’ll write about a situation in my journal and feel the weight immediately lifted from my shoulders. Words are so powerful, even if no on will ever see them."

We all have bad days now and then but life goes on. The sooner you can get past the disturbance, the better. When you work from home, you have to rely on yourself to stay motivated and productive. Try out some of her tips the next time you are having a bad day.

When you are a contract worker, as most freelance writers, programmers and consultants are, it becomes important to set your freelance price. Your rate becomes a way for others to determine whether they will hire you. You can also evaluate offers from others, helping you determine whether or not you will take the job. Contract worker points out that:

It’s clear that an effective pricing strategy requires an awareness of what other people are doing. In other words, it literally pays to know the compensation standards set by the other players in your industry. That and a willingness to objectively evaluate your offerings for better proposals.

This is a good point. You may have a freelance rate figured out, based on what others get, and the value you feel your work represents, but others may make proposals to you. And you have to decide whether you are going to take it, if it appears to be less than you feel you are worth.

And you have to decide whether you have enough work to say no.

On November 30th I wrote a post about a fairly new blog network that allows you to advertise your blog and get more traffic. At the end of that post, this is what I said:

"I will let you know what I think about Entrecard after I have been with it longer. So far, it seems to show more potential than any other traffic system I have tried."

I have been with it long enough to have formed an opinion. The truth of the matter is that I think it is wonderful! I was able to generate a new source of traffic to my blog through their system. I have been using it for about 14 days now and have received 147 hits to my blog through the main site. This could be people dropping off their card to earn credits or actual interested visitors.

I have also received an additional 63 visits from ads I have placed through my card on other blogs. These are the "good visits" because people chose to visit my site while they were on another blog. I would say these stats are pretty good for a short amount of time. Overall, I would say they have a really good system for bloggers.

Yesterday, I mentioned that a domain name is a good idea for your home business. Unfortunately, setting up Web hosting for your own domain name costs money. The good news is that it doesn't need to cost that much. I am actually enjoying the Web hosting I receive from DotEasy.

DotEasy offers free Web hosting (which I am using), and also offers premium packages for as little as $7.95 per month. The template is refreshing, in that it is possible to personalize your Web site and domain name while still looking professional.

But there are costs. Whenever you get a domain name (and it has to be available), you have to pay for it. And DotEasy requires that you download an FTP program for file transfers. I did have to front about $50 for the FTP program and to get my domain name for two years. But that's not bad, considering I don't have to have ads on my site, it's my own name and the Web hosting portion is free. Not bad.

You can check it out at www.mirandamarquit.com

I found a great opportunity for you to submit your blog for syndication. This is a chance for your blog to gain more visibility and also earn monthly royalties.

You can find out all of the details and requirement by clicking here. Good luck!

It's interesting, but many people who have a home business don't set up a domain name. A non-scientific poll on Just Make Money Online points out that many people don't have a domain name. But in today's tech-savvy world, it is important to set up a domain name if you have a home business. This way you can reach more people, and send people to an "address" on the world wide Web where they can learn more about you.

If you don't have a domain name, look into it. Do some research and see what you can find. There are plenty of templates out there, along with low-cost Web hosting.

Tomorrow: I review my Web host.

Do you have guest bloggers on your blog? Have you considered finding a guest blogger? Sometimes having guest authors make sense and can be a wonderful addition to your blog. What are some of the pros and cons of this idea?:

Pros:

1) A guest blogger can help add content to your blog

2) They can offer a different perspective to your readers

3) You can come up with a great team of writers

Cons:

1) They agree to post on your blog but rarely do

2) You have to constantly edit every post they make

3) You don't like their contributions and have to cut off their posting privileges

The cons I came up with are worst case scenario situations. I have had to remove posting privileges from a guest author before and felt really bad. However, it is your blog and you have to do what is right for it. A guest blogger can either be an asset to your blog or a nightmare. Choose your bloggers carefully and you might love what you see!